62
votes
Accepted
Why can water not be transferred within California?
First point: farmers who sell their water aren't farmers anymore. Both cash crops and livestock are water-intensive, and while farmers could shift to more water-friendly activities (away from nuts, ...
- 76.4k
56
votes
What is the logic behind charging tax _in the form of money_ for owning property when the property does not produce money?
Firstly, I think there is some flawed logic in the OP's premise that, historically, the purpose of taxation was to tax the production of something. When a person earns a salary, they are not producing ...
- 4,950
46
votes
What is the logic behind charging tax _in the form of money_ for owning property when the property does not produce money?
There are two issues with your question. The first is that you're approaching this from a wrong angle. The question is not how or whether a property tax is justifiable or justified, but rather how or ...
- 30.7k
36
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't the UK government end "bona vacantia"?
Property with no other successor has to go somewhere.
The amount of property at issue is modest. It is about $7.5 million USD a year (in an economy with a GDP of $3,131,000 million USD a year), which ...
- 88.3k
24
votes
Accepted
Can a private citizen host a military base of another country?
No
A private citizen does not have the right to issue visas, or other travel documents to citizen soldiers of a foreign country.
Private citizens are bound by laws. They can't have military weaponry &...
- 124k
23
votes
Some of the people in my town pay no taxes, what can I do about it?
If something illegal is happening, through connections, this could qualify as organized crime. The FBI may be interested.
If the tax law is being interpreted in a discriminatory matter, that could be ...
- 116k
21
votes
Accepted
Why is it legal to discriminate by gender when letting rooms and flats?
However, when it comes to the renting - it all magically goes away
It doesn't look like it. The only case where owners are allowed to discriminate is when (source):
the owner is living in the ...
- 30.7k
21
votes
Why doesn't the UK government end "bona vacantia"?
Forming laws against the Monarch is politically dicey.
So, the UK is weird. Officially, parliament advises the monarch, as head of state, to sign the bill put in front of them, at which point it ...
- 1,350
20
votes
What is the logic behind charging tax _in the form of money_ for owning property when the property does not produce money?
You're paying for the government to defend your property (among other things.)
One of the services that most governments provide is that of stopping invading armies and marauding gangs of criminals ...
- 4,418
15
votes
What is the logic behind charging tax _in the form of money_ for owning property when the property does not produce money?
In the late 1980s in the UK, the Conservative government decided that they would break the traditional connection between property rental value and local taxation. Instead of people paying tax ...
- 124k
15
votes
Accepted
Does the US have a "Beauty Tax" on property?
Property taxes are generally based on the value of the house as determined by the tax assessor at the time that value is reassessed. Different places have different laws and rules that govern how the ...
- 26k
14
votes
Why doesn't the UK government end "bona vacantia"?
A point not mentioned in the other answers is that this only applies to parts of England - the territories which once formed the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall.
So as well as the limited political ...
- 555
12
votes
Can a private citizen host a military base of another country?
Even though Liberal nations have the concept of private property, all territory in the state is fundamentally 'owned' by the state. Private property means that a given individual is given the right to ...
- 76.4k
11
votes
Why doesn't the British government simply expropriate all royal property?
Why doesn't the British government simply expropriate all royal property?
In order to get the incomes from royal domains and other properties owned by the nobility.
The state already gets the net ...
- 6,950
9
votes
Some of the people in my town pay no taxes, what can I do about it?
Politically you can vote for officials you believe to be "fair" and honest.
Politically, you could run for tax assessor or county commissioner.
Otherwise, you could call the County tax assessors ...
- 91
8
votes
Accepted
How did Poland and Hungary manage to take over (nationalize) mandatory private pensions without breaking private property right?
For Hungary the private accounts were not technically forcibly taken over by the government, however between November 2010 and December 2011 all payments to the private accounts were suspended and ...
- 10.5k
8
votes
What is the logic behind charging tax _in the form of money_ for owning property when the property does not produce money?
Time4Tea's answer explains why property taxes are justified in a modern society with multiple potential alternative forms of taxation, as they pay for various government services that property owners ...
- 268
8
votes
Can a private citizen host a military base of another country?
Having heavy weaponry is illegal in most countries, even if you store it on private property. So no advanced weapons, which military bases often imply. Otherwise, you may be tried for weapon smuggling....
- 18k
8
votes
Accepted
Are there countries where all homeowners associations are prohibited from exercising control over non-common property?
Are there countries where all homeowners associations are prohibited
from exercising control over non-common property?
Introductory points
For the most part, the issue is not the country in which the ...
- 88.3k
7
votes
Are there any statistics on Eminent Domain?
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that there is a national database regarding eminent domain property seizure. Books like this rely on case studies as anecdotal evidence. Cursory web searches show ...
7
votes
Do Amish (Pennsylvania Dutch or others) in US own their means of production?
By the definition provided in the question, the answer is probably closer to yes than no, however the Amish would consider that definition a decidedly "English" view. Meaning that their concept of ...
- 8,997
7
votes
Difference between personal property and private property in left-libertarianism
Based on the definitions you provided, a quick summary of the position would be "you can own stuff, but not a place". In other words, it's an ideology where you have ownership of and control over ...
- 182
7
votes
What is the logic behind charging tax _in the form of money_ for owning property when the property does not produce money?
I'd like to point out that I indeed think the question how a community (whether village/town, ..., state) collects the money it needs to provide its services to the citizens is to a large extent ...
- 1,385
7
votes
Why can water not be transferred within California?
Part of this seems to just be that the PDF you are referencing is out of date (last updated March 21st, it is now May 10th) and part of it seems to be that the application requires a public comments ...
- 1,239
6
votes
How did Poland and Hungary manage to take over (nationalize) mandatory private pensions without breaking private property right?
In Poland, few years after the new mandatory private pension system was established, some citizen requested to withdrawn his funds, arguing that those were his private savings. Eventually the case hit ...
- 217
6
votes
The right in which people have to own property when the natural order prevents it
A common fallacy in history is to judge past events by contemporary standards. The concept of a right is a construct of a society, and will vary according to the conditions under which that society ...
- 10.6k
6
votes
How much looting has actually occurred during the recent protests in the US?
It may take time before someone really studies this and comes up with meaningful numbers, especially on the national level.
One helpful way of approaching the question would be through insurance ...
- 19.2k
6
votes
Why are real estate records public?
Taxes. Also, Valuation is a Little Subjective.
Ownership of real property is one of the founding principles of the United States. Taxes thereupon are levied against the assessed value of the property. ...
- 19.4k
5
votes
Accepted
The right in which people have to own property when the natural order prevents it
"What right do people have to own property if other people have a claim on that property but do not physically occupy it?"
There are three things going on here: ownership, occupation, and statehood.
...
- 22.2k
5
votes
Can a private citizen host a military base of another country?
It is possible. But the government of the country the base will be located in has to either agree to it, or be powerless to stop it. In both cases, it would mean that government power is tenuous, and ...
- 3,983
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible